You Know, That Thing That Makes The World Go Round
by prettypriestess
Summary: Neku raised an eyebrow at Joshua, for all the good it did. "He's not being weird or anything, right?" Neku said, turning to Rhyme. "Neku!" Shiki hissed. "Be nice!" "'Cos if he is--" Beat continued, ignoring her. Surprise pairings.


**Warnings:** Done in my usual disconnected-vignettes style. End spoilers? -Ish?  
**Pairings:** Well, it's sort-of surprise? One counts as a **warning**, so. (Scroll to the bottom to find out, if you want to.)  
**Rating:** Um, it's probably G, but I'm going with PG just in case I used bad words, because I am so tired of looking at this thing, and I don't even remember.  
**Notes:** I have had half of this in my notebook for weeks. The other half, I wrote on the spur of the moment before posting. The results may be mixed? Written for 1angelette's birthday. (Two months late, too. /fail.)

---

**You Know, That Thing That Makes The World Go 'Round?**

---

"Rhyme, do you want to come with us for the next show? We've got a third ticket," Eri asked.

"No, thank you. I actually have plans for tomorrow."

"What kind of show?" Neku asked, cautiously allowing interest to show in his expression.

"What plans?" Beat snapped.

"Fashion," Shiki mouthed as everyone's attention moved to Rhyme. Neku didn't roll his eyes, but it was close.

"We're going to a museum," Joshua replied, doing something with his phone. Managing Shibuya, Neku guessed, marveling at how much one boy could do with one incredibly-enhanced phone.

Neku raised an eyebrow at Joshua, for all the good it did. Joshua hadn't so much as glanced up the whole time he spoke. "He's not being weird or anything, right?" Neku said, turning to Rhyme.

"Neku!" Shiki hissed. "Be nice!"

"'Cos if he is--" Beat continued, ignoring her.

Rhyme waved a hand, smiling at everyone with the same radiant smile she always had. "Of course not! It's just, I didn't think anyone else would be interested, and Joshua offered to go."

"Oh, Rhyme," Eri cooed. "We're always interested."

"I'm not," Neku mumbled, crossing his arms.

Shiki ignored him, saying, "That's right. You're everyone's little sister."

Rhyme giggled, staring at her shoes, her cheeks beginning to glow a bit. "It's just a museum trip."

Eri grinned, sticking out her tongue. "We know!"

---

"Dude, focus," Neku snapped.

Beat fell on his ass, really feeling it this time. His skateboard rolled into a nearby wall with the dull click of board-on-brick. "'S jus' skateboardin', yo," he grumbled.

"We're finding something else to do before you hurt yourself, and Rhyme comes after me like it's my fault for not keeping an eye on you, _again_," Neku said. He grabbed Beat's skateboard before he could protest. "It's your day off, man. Chill."

Beat hopped to his feet, snatching his board back. "I'm cool," he insisted.

Neku raised an eyebrow. "Sure," he replied.

---

"Rhyme, what about you?" Shiki asked, waving her Def Märch tickets. "Eri won't go with me," she mourned.

"Sorry, Joshua already invited me," Rhyme said with absolutely no sympathy. She reached for one of Beat's fries. Beat moved his fries out of her reach, narrowing his eyes. She seemed to visibly deflate. Beat sighed, putting his fries back withing Rhyme's reach.

"When is it?" Neku asked after a moment.

"Friday at 9."

He took a bite of his burger, looking at the ceiling with a thoughtful expression. "I could do that," he said.

"Really?" Shiki asked. "Alright!"

Eri grinned, elbowing her in the side with no real force. "We get it, you're a fan of terrible music."

"_I'm_ a fan of terrible music? What about _you_?" Shiki challenged.

"Hey, Utada Hikaru is a perfectly acceptable music choice," Eri shot back. "Isn't that right, Beat?"

Beat looked up, confused. "What?"

Rhyme giggled. "He doesn't like Def Märch, either."

"Ha'n't really been a fan since almost hittin' Game Over at A-East, y'know?" Beat said, grinning with less force than usual. He ate another fry, batting Rhyme's hand away to get it. She stuck her tongue out at him. He flashed her a mouthful of half-chewed french fry.

Shiki made a face at Beat's antics while Neku continued the conversation, "Kind of weird to be around him after seeing him Erased, too," he agreed.

"C'mon," Shiki insisted. "They use a megaphone! How cool is that? How many other bands use a megaphone, huh?"

Joshua and Neku shared a look. "Actually, there's a story behind that, too," Neku told her.

Shiki gaped at him.

"You gave Def Märch their megaphone?" Rhyme asked, the slightest hint of awe inflecting her tone.

"Well, no," Neku admitted. "But we spent the day looking for their mic."

"We never found it," Joshua clarified. "The megaphone was in the phonebooth out by Molco."

"Hey, do you think 777 will remember us?" Shiki asked.

Joshua shrugged. "Who knows." He nodded in Neku's general direction. "He'll remember Neku. Maybe Beat."

---

Eri reached into her bag for her cell phone-- it was blaring that song by Sawa that Shiki liked so much, and sure it was pretty good, but she was beginning to think a new ringtone was in order. "Hello?"

"Yo," the other voice replied. "No one else was around, so."

"Beat?" Eri asked. They had never been anything resembling close, but. Beat was right, everyone else was at the concert, and it was entirely too quiet. "Sure, what's going on?"

There was a long sigh from the other line. "I dunno, just thought we could hang out, or somethin'," he trailed off lamely.

Eri giggled. "Alright, how about some curry?" she suggested.

Beat perked up at that. "Awright, I knew callin' you was a good idea, yo!"

Eri laughed again. "See you in a few minutes, then?"

"Totally," Beat agreed.

---

Neku pulled Joshua to the side while Shiki and Rhyme started babbling about the cool new spiky accessory 777 had picked up.

"What's going on with you and Rhyme?" he asked.

Joshua smiled. "Nothing, of course. We're just friends."

"Beat doesn't seem to think so," Neku told him. He half-glared in a way that was meant to be a warning.

Joshua giggled. "Well, that was rather the idea."

Neku raised an eyebrow. "What?" he replied. Joshua shook his head, then watched Rhyme and Shiki's conversation for a moment.

Neku followed his gaze, seeing Rhyme wrap a hand around her necklace. She seemed distracted, which was just as well, because their conversation seemed to have fizzled out.

"Hmph," Shiki sighed. "I kind of wish Eri was here, even if she just spent the concert telling me what a terrible band Def Märch is."

Rhyme nodded, looking down at her necklace.

Neku reached a hand up, awkwardly bumping Joshua's arm. He didn't look away from Rhyme until Joshua made a soft "hn" of acknowledgment. "Are you...?" He began.

Joshua smirked. "It's exactly what you're thinking," he confirmed.

"And how do you see that revelation working out for them?" Neku asked, his voice carefully devoid of any emotion. He reached for his Player pin in his pocket, so that Joshua had no chance of scanning him.

"Rather well, actually," Joshua replied. "And soon."

---

Eri took a sip of her soda, staring at the ceiling for a moment before returning her gaze to Beat. "Well," she said at last. "That's love, isn't it? The will to protect her from everything."

Beat drew little shapes and squiggles in the sauce left on his plate. "I s'pose," he mumbled after a moment.

"I've always had a funny feeling from Joshua, anyway," Eri continued. "Not bad, really, just. He's not what he seems, you know?"

Beat shook his head. "Phones trusts 'im. 'S good enough for me, yo." He dropped his fork with a clatter, turning to lean his back against the light and throw his legs over the other chair. "It's _Rhyme_, though. Y'know?"

Eri nodded. "I didn't like Neku at first because I thought he and Shiki were together," she admitted. She sucked the last bit of soda out of her soda cup, making an obnoxious SHKKKKKH sound. "You wanna go wait for them after the show?" she offered.

Beat looked up. "Yeah," he agreed. "Good idea, yo."

---

Rhyme exited A-East between Joshua and Shiki, chattering with them both about the concert. Neku, still concerned about his discussion with Joshua, pre-show, was the only one who was looking ahead, and the first to see Eri and Beat.

"Hey," he yelled, waving at them both.

Eri waved back, jumping to make herself more noticeable. Shiki stopped talking as she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. Neku could see the instant she saw Eri because her expression changed to something warmer. She waved back, less enthusiastically, but just as glad to see her friend.

Beat and Eri began making their way toward Eri and Rhyme, pushing past other fans with half-apologies from Eri, and rude gestures from Beat.

Beat reached them first, picking up Rhyme and twirling her around without warning. He set her back on her feet as Joshua sidled up to Neku. Neku thought Joshua might have said something, but he was too distracted by Beat leaning down to kiss Rhyme on the lips.

Rhyme froze for a moment. "W-what was that for?" she asked.

Eri's eyes widened, causing Shiki to turn around to see what was going on. "What?" she whispered.

"Just because," Beat replied, grinning. It looked like it hurt to hold up that much cheer in front of his friends, but he wasn't the sort to hide anything from his friends once he had decided on it.

Rhyme blushed, reaching one hand up to her lips, and the other up to clasp her necklace. "Oh," she said after a moment, acutely aware of their friends' eyes on them. She moved the hand from her lips to grab Beat's hand, then looked at their friends. "Why'd we stop walking?" she asked them.

"I said," Joshua repeated to Neku, "'I think that it's rather unfair we're the only single ones in the group,'"

Neku nodded. "Damn, we are, aren't we?"

Rhyme giggled, swinging her and Beat's clasped hands. "Maybe you should hook up," she suggested.

"That makes no logical sense at all," Neku argued.

"I'm afraid I must agree," Joshua added. He moved forward to sling an arm over Shiki's shoulders. "Shiki, however, is a beautiful young lady."

"Hey," Eri snapped. "Get off of my girlfriend."

Joshua backed away, holding up his hands in surrender. He winked at Neku, before taking off, Eri half-heartedly chasing after him.

Shiki giggled, then turned back to Beat and Rhyme. "Congratulations. How long have you been together, anyway? I feel silly for not noticing!"

Beat looked to Rhyme. She looked back. They shrugged. "Feels like forever," Rhyme said. "But, in a good way."

Beat ruffled her hair. "'S how love is," he said.

---

A/N: Augh, I cannot believe how long it took to write that. First off, I am sorry for the total lack of substance and the crash-and-burn pathetic fluff ending. D: Nextly, I am going to go ahead and admit that this is totally why it took me so long to get into fandom. I go in cycles and sometimes events just throw me off of fandom for a bit. This is doubly likely to happen with just _writing_ in fandom. And, naturally my life hit a mine about the time I had this thing halfway written, and I'm sorry if it looks a little rushed, because it totally, totally was toward the end. Gah.

The SUPER SEKRIT pairing is BEAT/RHYME. Yeah, sorry if that caught anyone by surprise. I did say it counts as a warning.


End file.
